T1B

Sausage Tortellini in Tomato Cream Sauce with Spinach

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1/3 cup onions, finely diced
1/3 cup carrots, finely diced
1/3 cup celery, finely diced
1/3 cup butter, unsalted
Crema Mexicana, creme fraiche or heavy cream
2- 2 1/2 lbs sausage tortellini
10 oz package chopped, frozen spinach
salt
basil
thyme



Add the tomatoes, onions, carrots, celery, butter and herbs to a heavy bottomed or enameled cast iron sauce pan. Bring to a low simmer and hold for 45 minutes.



Pour sauce into a blender and puree. Pour back into the sauce pan and bring back to simmer.



Add thawed, rinsed spinach and bring to simmer again. Add crema (about a 1/2 cup or so) and salt to taste.



Toss well with tortellini and invite Nutrasystem to suck your ballsack.

I buy that same brand of canned tomatoes. Decidedly better than most. I also buy the Buitoni stuffed pastas, sometimes their red sauce as well for an extremely quick and easy meal. I will have to try this recipe, and get freshly waxed for the Nutrasystem folk.

Goober McTuber wrote:I will have to try this recipe, and get freshly waxed for the Nutrasystem folk.

I'll go ahead and RACK it.

Toddowen wrote:What did you do? Buy some of that Barilla stuff that was on sale?

I assume the reason you asked this question is because your vision was obscured by several "freshly shot loads."

An addendum from the other board:

Jsc810 wrote: Bob couldn't a few pounds of shrimp go in there as well?

The definitive answer is now, yes. Shrimp pairs very well with this sauce. Better than the tortellini I'd say.

I took the leftover sauce and sauted a 1/2 lbs of shrimp in olive oil and garlic then heated up the sauce in the skillet with a little crushed red pepper while I cooked some fettucini. It was outstanding.

"A few pounds of shrimp" would probably be a bit much unless you were planning some sort of Cajun-Italian etouffee which would pretty fucking goddamn good, too.

I say, "Go for it."

I use that brand of tortellini all the time also. I will be trying this sauce. What is the difference between the crema mexicana and the heavy cream? (never used crema mexicana).

Toddowen wrote:Still...it's crap you've picked up at the supermarket, and not handmade by an actual pasta shop.

If you're not on a first name basis with the person who made the tortellini, you are a pretender.

Stick with hearty and chunky Ragu over Prince elbows, along with the 10 dollar wines you know so much about. Because you don't know a thing about real Italian food.

Who makes scratch tortellini on a weekday? Not you. You're getting your face painted by homeless nigggers for spare change. Maybe I'm wrong, though. Please, demonstrate your mastery of real Italian food. We're all waiting.

C'mon, Tardd. School us.

Toddowen wrote:Can't you read?

Go to a pasta shop that makes their pasta by hand.

So you don't make your own pasta by hand? Right? That's cool. I rarely do myself. It's a lot of work and a huge pain in the ass and stuffed pasta is a ridiculous chore undertaken on only the most special of circumstances. What, exactly, was your point again?

Oh...just go to the neighborhood "pasta shop." And if there aren't any? I guess you go to the grocery store and paper it over with a great sauce.

You're a fucking cum splattered joke.

The spinach was an afterthought. It wasn't included in the recipe I was using. I just saw it in the freezer when I was getting some ice and decided to throw it in at the last minute. It works. And, yes, no garlic. If you knew half as much as you seem to think you know, you would know that "real Italian cooking" doesn't use garlic in every single dish particularly in those from the northern regions of Italy.

In any event, your actual knowledge of "real Italian cooking" is limited to "going to a pasta shop," so I think we can safely discard your opinion as totally worthless.

Toddowen wrote:Is that necessary?

Not at all. It was a purely aesthetic decision. I wanted a smooth and creamy sauce.

But simmering and reducing is. And you only did that for maybe an hour?

No more than 45 minutes for this particular sauce. Some sauces only require 25-30 minutes others 3 hours or more. It depends on which notes you wish to emphasize. For a red meat sauce, go ahead and slow simmer that for 3 hours. For a marinara/basic pomodoro sauce, you only need 25 minutes or even less if you use fresh tomatoes.

Your ignorance becomes more clearly evident every time you mash submit. No need to take my word for it, though. Go ahead and make the above recipe and simmer it for 3 hours then report back with your results.

trev wrote:What is the difference between the crema mexicana and the heavy cream? (never used crema mexicana).

CM is a type of soured cream very similar to creme fraiche. It isn't nearly as sour as sour cream and is thinner in consistency. The big advantage over sour cream is that it doesn't break nearly as easily as sour cream does. I use it in beans, chili and stroganov. I also like to dunk fresh strawberries in crema and roll them in brown sugar.